26th Sunday OT B: The Freedom of Christ’s Spirit
Dear brothers and sisters:
This Sunday, we listen to the third of three Sunday gospel readings from Mark’s Gospel that teach us about Jesus’ identity as the suffering servant messiah and the implications of that identity of Christ for us, his followers.
The teaching provided today is prompted by a concern of the Apostle John. He tells Jesus that someone is performing mighty deeds, “driving out demons,” in your name. John wants Jesus to stop that individual because, according to John, that person apparently does not belong to Christ.
John presumes to know all who belong to Christ. But does he? Like Joshua, the son of Nun in the first reading, John wants to limit the freedom of the Spirit of the Lord. And, how about John’s motivation? Could one detect a tinge of jealousy, a kind of “us vs. them” attitude as he reports to Jesus and requests him to prevent others from working in his name?
Jesus’ response to John is “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.” Then, to show that what we can do in his name is not limited to mighty deeds, he adds that even giving a cup of water in his name will be rewarded.
Thus, the suffering servant messiah indicates that his mission includes opening a space for us to follow him in his suffering servant leadership, not just through mighty deeds performed in his name, but in the smallest actions performed in a spirit of loving service.
Here we can be reminded of the Little Way of the Little Flower. It does not matter as much how big the act performed may be; the love that motivates an act gives it its power.
Finally, Jesus warns against the deprivation of love that leads to scandal. He is stern in his call. “Cut it off, if it causes you to sin.” What is loveless is what does not belong to Christ. What is done with his love, however small, makes us belong to him. May we follow the suffering servant in loving service to one another. It is his love, and our collaboration with that love, that makes us belong to him and sets us free from our narrow-mindedness and pettiness to become truly sons and daughters of the Father whose love is all-embracing.